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Tuesday, 5 October 2010

In the summer of 1995, a scheduled appearance by the Rollins Band at a gig in Brandywine, Maryland was thwarted at the very last minute due to torrential rain. A few weeks later, still feeling cheated having stood sodden in the audience through many hours of support acts, local Rollins fans Chris Farley and Ken Meekins sent Henry Rollins an admittedly "immature" message via a contact form on his website. Says Chris:

We put stuff like "Why did you have to cancel the show? Were you home eating soup with your mommy?" I think we may have called him a "punk-ass bitch" too. The form required the entry of your snail-mail address for promotional mailers and stuff. We entered "Bob Walters" in the name field and my home address. We sent the e-mail, giggled, and never thought another thing about it.

Much to their surprise, the following explanatory note, handwritten by Rollins, arrived at the house a few weeks later. The last line is fantastic.

BOB. HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED. THE PROMOTER SETH HOROWITZ WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THE WEATHER EVEN WHEN HE PROMISED HE WOULD BE. BY THE TIME IT WAS FOR HELMET TO GO ON, THE POWER GENERATORS WERE SUBMERGED IN WATER. THE STAGE WAS MOSTLY METAL AND THE RISK OF BANDS & CREWS GETTING FRIED.

SETH REALLY BLEW IT FOR US. WE WERE THERE ALL DAY INTO THE NIGHT WAITING TO PLAY. IT WAS THE LAST SHOW OF THE TOUR WITH SAUSAGE & HELMET AND WE WERE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO HITTING IT. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN #80 FOR THE YEAR.

TO LEAVE THAT PLACE W/O PLAYING SUCKED.

NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME, CALL ME WHAT YOU CALLED ME IN YOUR LETTER AND WE’LL SEE HOW IT GOES.

— HENRY ROLLINS

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